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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 75-23,153 WELCH, Paula Dee, 1942- THE EMERGENCE (F AMERICM WCMEN IN TOE SIMOER. OLYMPIC GAMES, 1900-1972. Hie University of North Carolina at Greensboro, BUD,, 197 S Education, physical Xerox University Microfilms , Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 @ 1975 PAULA DEE WELCH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE EMERGENCE OF AMERICAN WOMEN IN THE SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES 1900-1972 by Paula Dee Welch A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education Greensboro 1975 Approved by Jdi+ly 7)1 • -)<L Dissertation Adviser APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of the Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dissertation Adviser Committee Members Date of Acceptance by Committee ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writer wishes to express her gratitude to those who helped make this study possible. Appreciation is extended to Dr. Gail Hennis, Chairperson of the Dissertation Advisory Committee, and members of the committee: Dx. Kate Barrett, Dr. Rosemary McGee, Dr. Pauline Loeffler, and Dr. Allen Trelease. Dr. Gail Hennas' initial encouragement served as an inspiration to pursue the study of American women's involvement in the Olympic Games. Especial appreciation is extended to Dr. Allen Trelease who spent many hours analyzing the first manuscript. Mr. C. Robert Paul, Jr., Assistant Communications Director at Olympic House, headquarters of the United States Olympic Committee, answered a multitude of questions and provided information that was very useful in developing this history. Mr. Daniel J. Ferris, Sec­ retary Emeritus of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), offered his vast knowledge of modem Olympic history and informed the writer of persons associated with the early Olympic Movement in the United States. Mr. Harry Hainsworth, Consultant for the Amateur Athletic Union, and Mr. Ollan C. Cassell, Executive Director of AAU House, permitted the writer to examine many "volumes of AAU minutes . Numerous data relating to Olympic swimmers were furnished by Mr. Buck Dawson, Executive Director of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Finally, the writer wishes to acknowledge her fellow graduate students for their constant encouragement throughout the research and writing of this history. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the Problem 4 Purpose of the Study 4 Need for the Study 5 Related Research and Literature 5 Sources of Data 6 Historical Method 7 Limitations of the Study 8 The Olympic Organization. 8 II. EARLY PURSUIT FOR OLYMPIC LAURELS 11 III. AMATEUR ATHLETIC UNION ASSUMES CONTROL OF WOMEN'S SWIMMING 18 IV. THE SEVENTH OLYMPIAD: AQUATIC ALPHA FOR AMERICAN WOMEN . 24 V. AMERICA ESTABLISHED AS A SWIMMING AND DIVING POWER. ... 31 VI. AMERICANS ENTER TRACK AND FIELD 40 VII. THE OLYMPIC PROTEST 52 VIII. BABE DIDRIKSON, REMARKA.BLE ATHLETE 67 IX. THE CONTROVERSIAL ELEANOR HOLM 80 X. WAR CAUSES CANCELLATION OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES 97 XI. THE POST-WAR OLYMPICS 101 XII. THE OLYMPIC TEAM FLIES FOR THE FIRST TIME 110 XIII. WOMEN ARE HOUSED IN OLYMPIC VILLAGE 119 XIV. WILMA RUDOLPH, PREMIER SPRINTER 128 XV. THE FIRST OLYMPIC TEAM SPORT FOR WOMEN 140 XVI. A WOMAN FLAG BEARER 148 XVII. THE FIRST EQUESTRIAN MEDAL AND THE SECOND ARCHERY APPEARANCE 156 iv CHAPTER Page XVIII. A COMPARISON: 1900-1916, 1920-1944, 1948-1972 163 Recommendations 170 SELECTED REFERENCES 171 APPENDIX 180 Appendix A: Women Administrative Personnel During Olympic Competition 181 Appendix B: Summary of American Women's Olympic Participation 182 v Welch, Paula Dee. The Emergence of American Women in the Summer Olym­ pic Games: 1900-1972. Directed by: Dr. Gail Hennis. Pp. 182. The modern Olympic Games began in 1896 with the absence of women competitors. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, patriarch of the modern Olympic era, adamantly opposed the inclusion of women in Olym­ pic sport. It was Coubertin's wish to revive the Games in light of the male Greek ideal. In spite of Coubertin's chauvinistic beliefs women gradually gained entry into Olympic competition. American women made an unheralded appearance in the Paris Games of the second Olympiad. Sport events were overshadowed by the Paris Exposition of 1900 and little is reported regarding the success­ ful golfers who won the first three places in women's golf competition. The second appearance of American women occurred during the St. Louis Olympics of 1904 when a few competitors entered archery, an unofficial event. The puritanical beliefs of James E. Sullivan, President of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU) and organizer of the American Olympic team of 1896, kept American women out of official Olympic competition. After Sullivan's death in 1914, the AAU assumed control of women's swimming and served as a primary influence in pro­ moting sport for women. Additional opposition to women competing in Olumpic sport came from society in general. Furthermore, the conserva­ tive views toward competition by women physical educators during the 1920s curtailed intercollegiate and interscholastic sport until the 1960s. Most women have entered Olympic competition as a result of competitive experiences outside the context of educational institutions. vi The AAU has provided the majority of opportunities for women to train for Olympic competition. A few specialized sport organizations such as the American Canoe Association and the Amateur Fencers League of America have sponsored competition for women. Since 1920, with the exception of the war years, American women have steadily increased their participation in the Olympic Games. In recent years women have been asked to serve as United States Olympic Committee members and chairpersons. Few women have served as Olympic coaches; however, women are gradually entering the Olympic organiza­ tion as coaches. vii 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The writing of this history was prompted by an interest in history and the realization that little attention has been devoted to the heritage of American women in the Olympic Games. Furthermore, the writer has been enthralled by the Olympic Games since high school days. Initial encouragement for the undertaking of this study came from Dr. Gail Hennis while the writer was enrolled in a research course during the summer of 1971. An investigation of Olympic liter­ ature as part of a research assignment revealed the scarcity of informa­ tion relating to women in Olympic sport. The writer was intrigued by the ancient Olympics and the enigma-like circumstances that led the American woman to pursue Olympic competition. A brief study of modern woman's ancient Olympic counterpart served as an initial reference to woman's Olympic heritage. Women of the ancient era did not enjoy the privilege of Olympic competition and married women were strictly forbidden to view the contests. A number of writers suggest that all women were banned from entering the site of the ancient Olympic festival.^ Historian Ludwig Drees suggests that virgins were acceptable spectators at the ancient Olympic Games and that married women were denied entry into the Olympic festivities •'•Alan Marquand, "The Old Olympic Games," The Century Magazine, April, 1896, p. 804; see also Lynn Poole and Gray Poole, History of Ancient Olympic Games (New York: Ivan Obolensky, 1963), p. 37. 2 because of a religious taboo. The ban on married women was presumably associated with . the religious reform whereby the old fertility games of the sacred marriage [marriage of Zeus to Hera, the earth mother] were transformed into competitive games in honour of Olympian Zeus. One of the results of this reform was that, in the strictly patriarchal climate of the new tribal system, the married woman was deprived of the religious pre-eminence which she had formerly enjoyed. As a mother it was the married woman who had symbolised fertility and not the young girl.^ The Priestess of Demeter Chamyne, however, was given the honor of being the only married woman who was permitted to watch the Olympic Games0 and take part in the ceremony of the victor.